As Good as Dead
by muzic-wolf
Summary: The world has changed. Vampires lurk in the shadows and are hunted my Shadow hunters. In the midst of a perfect society, there is chaos. Liliane has always had everything, except free-will. She is trapped in a world of greed and fake smiles. Will she ever escape? How can she possibly fall in love through all of this? Can vampires and humans ever find peace? Read and find out...
1. Prologue

**A/N: My second Romeo and Juliet fanfic. Yaaaaay! Anyway, this is just an intro, but its important to the story, obviously. I know that its short but I hope you like it anyway.**

***Year - 3015***

_In the year 2055 scientists made a break though. A cure for cancer. They healed millions. But this cure came with a price... and it wasn't money. The cure gave you immortality. It gave them the ability to heal in seconds if injured. But it also gave them the thirst for human blood. They had created uncontrollable, thirst-driven vampires. Not long after, the cure was destroyed. But the "cure" remains in the blood of the vampires._

_These vampires weren't like the ones you read about in stories. The only similar thing is that they did have fangs, but only when they fed. Other than that, the only thing that set them apart was their eyes. Bright purple with a ring of blood-red around it._

_They didn't bite you to inject their venom. If they bite you, you were as good as dead, and you didn't need to drink their blood to become a vampire. In order for a vampire to change a human, they had to take their blood and inject it into the human. Once injected, the human became a vampire. The urge to kill is strong when they are first changed and once they make their first kill, there is no stopping them._

_Many of the vampires fled to the shadows in the outskirts of town, fearing themselves. But others stayed. Their desire changed them into monsters. They lost all their humanity._

_In a desperate attempt to save the human race, the government hired a special group of people to kill the vampires. Shadow hunters. The only thing that can kill a vampire is to slit their throat with a pure silver knife. Pure silver burns them_

_Over 90 decades later, it seems that all the vampires are dead. Society is thriving and the cure has been perfected, with no more side effects. Everything is... perfect. But the shadow hunters remain, always there, but never seen._

_It has been said that there are some vampires who are seeking peace with the humans, but is it true. If so, could humans and vampires ever truly live in peace?_

**A/N: How was it? I hope you enjoyed my insight into the world of vampires. Anyway: review, favorite, and follow. Did I mention review? XD**

**~ muzic-wolf **


	2. Chapter 1

**A/N: So here's chapter one. Sorry to those of you who have been waiting. But I had absolutely no idea how I was going to start the story. I know where I want it to go, I just didn't know how to start, but I think I got it. **

**Anyway, here it is, and I hope you like it.**

_The blade against my throat was cold and as unforgiving as a harsh wind on a winter night. But then it was burning. Silver..."Please, just do it..." I said, having lost all will to fight. What was the point anyway? A tear slipped down my cheek. Everything I cared about was gone. My family. My best friend and the man I loved._

_All because of the war and the humans selfish need to be the only intellectual species. We were people too. We could learn to control it. But did they ever listen to us..._

_I was the last of my kind. The very last vampire. I guess I should have defended myself but did any of it really matter. If I escaped and continued the vampire race... They would just keep on hunting us. I would be submitting more people to a life of fear._

_These are the thoughts that were going through my head, just moments before my inevitable demise. It was all over. The humans had won, and I used to think they were the reasonable ones. But they caused more pain and destruction that they prevented._

_Too bad it took me till now to realize it. I closed my eyes, welcoming the end. I didn't have anything else to live for. _

_Suddenly the space around me erupted into chaos. A deafening thundering sound smashed against my ear drums. Then it was dark and I was gone..._

**~~Skip~~**

**_1 Year Earlier_**

The sunlight from my window was piercing my eyes and I groaned, turning over. My first thought was 'Who in the heck thought it would be okay to leave the curtains open? Then I realized... I forgot to close them last night... _How can it be morning already?_

There was a soft knock on the door, followed by a gentle voice. "Elaina, are you up yet?" I sighed softly and sat up. "Yes mom."

She opened the door and stood in the doorway, looking around. "You reorganized your room." She said and stood awkwardly in the doorway.

Here's a rundown of my room. For one thing, it's the size of two master bedrooms put together and there's a walk in closet half that size. Even through I absolutely despise the idea of fashion. Pretty ironic since I had my own clothing line and personal stylist. (My mother is really into fashion.)

Theres a bookshelf that takes up one whole wall (which is a lot), that's completely full. Except for two shelves on the far right side. One of those shelves is empty and the other has my journal and a picture frame. It was one of my and my best friend when we were younger (and before things got complicated).

My desk is positioned under the window in my room, which overlooks the never-ending garden in out backyard. Oh yeah, and my ceiling is covered in stars. Not those cheap stick on ones either. They were painted on, with glow in the dark paint. I swear if I stare at them long enough they move and it feels like I'm in space. Anyway, back to the present.

I rolled my eyes at her and stood up, stretching my arms. "Well, it makes sense that it looks different considering the last time you were in here was 6 years ago." I said with a shrug and walked into my closet.

"No need to be smart Elaina. I'm just here to tell you about your dress fitting for your birthday party." I froze in my tracks. I had completely forgotten about my birthday party. Just the thought made me sick.

"Yeah, that's great mom." I said as I got dressed in a simple back shirt and dark blue skinny jeans, completely ignoring all the fancy, expensive clothes.

"You could at least try to be excited." She said as i walked back into my room and into the adjoining bathroom. "Would it matter? I'm going to have to pretend to be happy no matter how I feel about it." I said.

"Well fine. If you want to be pessimistic about it, then go ahead." She said, with a very unladylike huff, and walked away down the hall. I sighed and grabbed my hairbrush off my nightstand. After a moment, I tied my hair back in a high pony tail and wandered down the hall towards the front door.

Okay, so before you all start calling me an ungrateful stuck-up rich chick, just let me explain my story. First off, my name is Elaina Halloway, and I'm fifteen years old, turning sixteen in a week. I have plain brown eyes and mid-back length brown hair. I'm nothing special really, but guys tend to flirt with me a lot at school. I know it's just because I have money.

My mother is a fashion designer and for reasons still unknown to me, she gave me my own fashion line. Guess she wanted me to turn out like her, with her love of fashion. So not going to happen. Anyway, having my own fashion line means that my picture is in every fashion magazine you could think of, and I hate it. I hate the popularity and I hate the fact that whenever I look in one of those magazines, I don't see me. The real me is buried in there, underneath the mountain of make-up and hair products. The beautiful girl looking back at me just reminds me of how plain and boring I am. Thanks a lot mom...

We have absoutely nothing in common so I can't help the sarcastic or rude remarks that just happen to slip out whenever I talk to her. I know, most of you are probably already on her side. Would it help if I said she completely ignored me most of the time?... No? Didn't think so.

Next, my father. Well... he's barely ever at home anymore. Always off on some "business trip". I have absolutely no idea what his job and I don't think my mom does either, but does she ever ask? No, of course not. My father used to be a lawyer, but when he changed jobs when I was 5 years old, everything changed. Suddenly my entire home was swarming with security. And not like "mall cop" security that just wander around doing nothing. These guys meant business. You could see it in the way they walked around. They were always on high alert. Everything about them screamed danger and they scared the heck out of me. All except one.

Which brings me to my best friend, Xander. Now, most of our "Shadows" as I called them, because they were always there but you never saw them, had families, obviously. But when they came to work for my family, they could barely see their families, because they lived on our property. But one of the guards, happened to be a close friend of my father. My father gave him permission to move his family to one of the bigger guest houses on our property. Yeah, guest houses. Not rooms, houses.

Anyway, Xander (his full name is Alexander but its the nickname I gave him and it's only me that calls him that). He's seventeen years old. We have the same birthday so he's turning eighteen. He's my best friend and has been ever since he carried be after I fell out of the apple tree and twisted my ankle.

_***Flashback***_

_I clung to the trunk of the tree as if my life depended on it. _Why did I come up here..._ I thought as my heart rate accelerated. But I knew why. I wanted to prove to myself that I could. I didn't like to feel weak and I didn't want their to be anything I couldn't do. I was only eight years old but the climb seemed like nothing._

_I squeezed my eyes shut. I had done it; climbed the 9 foot high apple tree. But now I have no idea how to get down. _Just breathe Elaina. You can do anything if you put your mind to it. _My father's words echoed in my head. I couldn't open my eyes though, because I knew if I looked down I would just get dizzy. I hated heights..._

_"What are you doing up there?" The sound made my eyes snap open and I whipped my head to the side. Enormous mistake. The quick motion did two things. For one, it made me extremely dizzy because I looked down. The next thing that happened was that I lost my grip on the tree trunk. My heart sunk and I think it stopped beating._

_My foot caught in between two branches and twisted painfully. I didn't even have time to register the pain before I was falling into open air. My arms flailed widely, searching for a branch, but it was useless. I didn't even think to scream. I just closed my eyes and braced for impact._

_When I finally hit the ground, it certainly wasn't what I expected. For one thing, it didn't feel like I was on flat ground. "Elaina, you can open your eyes." The voice was gentle and caring. I slowly opened my eyes to see Alexander's face. I had only seen him once before, when my father introduced them._

_That's when I realized he was holding me in his arms. He had caught me when I fell... But instead of being grateful, my brain took a different route._

_"Put me down! I don't need your help!" I yelled as I flailed in his arms. He looked confused but put me down anyway. Just the slight pressure on my right ankle made my eyes water and I bit my tongue. I shifted my weight to my left foot. Unfortunately, he noticed._

_"Elaina, I should take you back to the house to get your ankle looked at." His caring voice only made anger flare inside me and I felt the need to defend myself. I hated looking weak. "I can make it fine by myself." I said and tried to take a step._

_As soon as I did, my ankle gave out and pain shot up my leg. A small cry escaped me and Alexander caught me before I face planted into the dirt. He helped me sit down and I realized tears were streaming down my cheeks._

_I wiped away the tears, furious with myself for showing my pain."You're ankle is swelling. Come on, let's get you back to the house." He looked up and seemed shocked. "You know... any other eight year old would be sobbing right now." he said and I wiped away another tear. "I don't like it when people help me. I'm not weak and I don't need help." I said softly and he didn't say anything for a minute._

_"It doesn't make you weak to need help sometimes." He said and I nodded after a moment. He stood up from where he was kneeling beside me and went to pick me up. For a moment I flinched away. "I won't hurt you Elaina." He said softly and this time I let him pick my up. More tears slipped down my cheek when my ankle moved._

_"Don't worry, we'll be there before you know it." he smiled at me and I couldn't help but smile back. I wrapped my arms around his neck and rested my head on his shoulder. "Thank you Xander." I whispered and he tensed slightly. "Xander?" he asked. Had I made a mistake? "You're my friend. So I gave you a nickname." I said, barely audible. _

_"I like it." He said and I relaxed. "So, if we're friends, you need a nickname too." He continued to walk. "How about Ellie?" he asked and I smiled wider, although he couldn't see it. "I love it." I said softly, having completely forgotten the pain._

_For the first time, I had a friend._

_***End Flashback***_

"Ellie!" I turned towards the voice I knew all too well and realized I had wandered into the garden. "Hey Xander." I called, smiling as I tried to act nonchalant. But I couldn't ignore the butterflies that flooded my stomach whenever I saw him. He was my best friend.

Did I mention I'm totally in love with him?

**A/N: Not bad for a chapter that I had no idea how it was going to turn out. Hope you guys liked it. Review and tell me what you think.**

**- muzic-wolf**


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